Street-sign.



'PATENTED AUG. 16, 1904. M. HOFHEIMER.

STREET SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 12. 1904.

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UNITED STATES Patented August 16, 1904.

MAURICE HOFHEIMER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STREET-SIGN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 767,814, dated August 16, 1904.

Application filed. April 12, 1904. Serial No. 202,358. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MAURICE HOFHEIMER, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street-Signs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The principal object of the present improvement in street-signs is to provide a sign which shall be extremely simple and economical in construction and which shall be so light in weight that it may be attached to ordinary gas-lamps on public highways without straining the lamp-brackets or exposing them to injury in stormy weather.

The invention will be hereinafter fully set forth, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan view with the supporting-rods in section. Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the frame. Fig. I is a sectional View on line 4 4, Fig. 3. Figs. 5 and 6 are details; and Fig. 7 is a View in perspective, showing my sign attached to an ordinary gas-lamp.

Referring to the drawings, 1 and 2 designate upper and lower wrought-iron bands'or straps bent in the shape of rectangles with beveled corners. These bands are joined together near the several corners by imperforate sheet-iron corner-plates 3, the parts being preferably secured by rivets 4. Thus each side of the frame will present a longitudinal opening for the display of the sign-boards 5. The corner-plates 3 may be ornamented, if desired, as shown in Fig. 7 The rivets 4 also hold in place the sign-board-retaining pieces 7 and 8. The piece 7 (shown extended in Fig. 5) consists of a flat plate bent back upon itself into approximate U shape. These retaining-pieces 7 are secured to the upper band 1 with their open ends oppositely disposed or facing each other, so as to accommodate the ends of the signboards. The retaining-pieces 8 are attached to the lower bands 2 and consist of a flat rightangular plate (see Fig. 6) bent back upon itself, so that each wing will form a U shapethat is to say, one of the wings is first bent like the retaining-pieces 7, and then the other wing is bent upward to overlap the U-bend already formed by the first mentioned wing. The double grooves thus provided face each other on the respective sides, while the lower grooves formed by the upwardly-bent wing constitute supports for the bottom edge of the signboard.

The corner-plates 3 are bent inwardly to form ears 9, through which screws or other fastening means are passed for attaching the frame to bracket-arms 10, extendinglaterally from the several side rods 12 ofthe lampframe. The lower edges of the lower band 2 rest on the ends of these arms, which latter support the weight of the frame, while the ears 9 enable it to be held in position on such arms. These latter are preferably formed in two parts at their inner ends, each part being provided with a V-groove, so that a firm bite may be had upon the lamp-frame rods upon the tightening of screws 13, the latter being located between the rods 12 and the sign-frame, since, as seen in Fig. 7, there is insufficient room between the rods and the lamp-globe to permitof manipulation of the binding-screws. Thus the pressure of these screws will hold the clamping parts of the supporting-arms sufficiently tight upon the frame-rods to maintain the sign-board frame in proper position. The globes in common use on street-lamps are quite close to the side rods; but a supporting-bracket composed of laterally-extended arms, as herein described, may be readily secured to the rods without danger of injuring the globes.

In practice the signs may be erected on the lamp-frames without removing the globes, hoods, or burners. The bracketarms are first secured to the respective rods 12, and the sign-frame is then lowered over the lamphood, with ears 9 resting on the bracket-arms, to which latter they may now be secured by ordinary screws. The position of the sign will be slightly higher than that of the light, but within the path of the light. The signboards may then be readily slipped into place, and the sign will be ready for use.

For convenience I have described the sign as being in a rectangular form with beveled corners andmainly of iron; but it is obvious that the invention may be embodied in any other form, as with right-angled corners or in triangular form, and that it may be made of different material, if desired. It is understood that the invention is not confined to sign-frames for gas-lamps alone, but that it may be employed on electric lights or for advertising-display purposes.

I claim as my invention 1. A sign-frame having a plurality of sides composed of upper and lower continuous bands bent to form angular corners, and imperforate plates located at such corners forming the,

connection between the upper and lower bands, display-openings being formed in each side between the upper and lower bands and the corner-plates.

2. A sign-frame of rectangular formation composed of upper and lower continuous bands beveled at their corners, and imperforate plates at such corners forming the connection between the upper and lower bands, displayopenings' being formed in each side of the frame, and retainers for the sign-boards secured to the inner sides of the plates.

3. A sign-frame composed of upper and lower bands bent to form a plurality of sides with angular corners, plates at such corners, means for securing the bands to the upper and lower edges of such plates, and sign-board retainers held by the means which secures the bands to said corner-plates.

4. A sign-frame composed of upper and lower bands bent to form a plurality of sides with angular corners, plates at such corners, means for securing the bands to the upper and lower edges of such plates, sign-board and retainers consisting of flat plates bent into U shape to accommodate the ends of a signboard, said retainers being held by the means which secures the bands to the corner-plates.

5. A sign-frame composed of upper and lower bands bent to form a plurality of sides with angular corners, plates at such corners,

means for securing the bands to the upper and lower edges of such plates, upper retainers consisting of oppositely-disposed U-shaped plates to accommodate the ends of a signboard and lower retainers consisting of double U-shaped plates, to accommodate the ends and lower edge of the sign-board.

6. The combination with a lamp-frame having upright rods, of bracket-arms secured to and extended laterally from said rods, a display-frame comprising upper and lower con tinuous bands bent to form sides with angular corners, plates secured to suchbands at such corners forming connections between the former, such plates having inwardly-extended ears at their bottoms, and screws-for securing such ears to such bracket-arms.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MAURICE HOFHEIMER. Witnesses:

JAMES R. FLANAGAN,

LEOPOLD M. GoULsToN. 

